A Bit About Tsetserleg, Arkhangai and Hot Springs

My host community for two weeks here in Mongolia is Tsetserleg, Arkhangai. Tsetserleg means garden and is the capital of Arkhangai with about 20,000 people. Tsetserleg is a beautiful town surrounded by some mountains and is very green. There are lots of pretty little wild tsetselgs, or flowers, and I love being out here in the country. The difference between here and UB is astonishing. Right away I noticed there was less pollution and trash in the streets, not to mention much it is greener. To get here, the six Americans (Erynne, Alanna, Jessica, Jaden, Jed, and Emily), their host siblings, and Kim and Peter (our chaperones), traveled by one of those community carpool vans for about 9 hours. It was quite an adventure and we traveled on Mongolia's only road across the country, though some detours onto the side of the road were necessary to avoid construction and sheep. There are so many sheep, goats, and yaks here, it's amazing! I think I heard a statistic that there are 10 head of some animal to 1 person here, or something like that. Sheep/goats/yaks/cows and the occasional horse roam the sides of the streets and most of the countryside.

On Monday, we all took a trip to a hot springs about 1.5 hours away from Tsetserleg. Means of transportation? A slightly sketchy "Russian Micro-Bus" (you must say it with a Russian accent). If I thought Paraguayan driving was scary, it was nothing compared to this. Don't get me wrong, Mongolians are excellent drivers, but we took this bus, along with a bit larger micro-bus, on a two track out into the middle of nowhere. I must admit that there were quite a few occasions that I was sure we were going to tip over while driving up a steep hill or break a bridge that was missing a few boards, but I've made it back in one piece and will probably never be scared to ride with anyone in any type of car again!

The hot springs was at a small ger resort, where the hot water is piped into pools. Each family brought a tent and we set up camp at the top of a small hill. Some of the adventures I experienced while on this camping trip were eating horhog - a traditional Mongolian dish where you cook goat or sheep with vegetables in a pot with very hot stones. Our goat came from a herdsman nearby the hot springs and was still alive when we got there... :D; drinking araig - fermented mare's milk that was offered to us by a Mongolian man who runs a boarding school for herder children as we were on our way back from visiting a gold mine. Typical Mongolian hospitality; eating yak butter - again, offered to us by the same Mongolian man; and seeing some beautiful Mongolian countryside.

One of the charms of Mongolia is its countryside. You'll be driving along on a grass plain, literally in the middle of nowhere, and suddenly a few gers will crop up, along with countless sheep/goats/yaks and possibly a jeep and some solar panels. It truly is quite a sight!

I'm having a grand time here in Mongolia and definitely have so many memories and experiences to share already. This is an experience I'll never forget and I'm so glad I've been able to participate in this program. I've tried to upload photos from my camera, but unfortunately this computer in the internet cafe I'm using isn't letting me :( But just look up some pictures of Arkhangai, Mongolia on Google and image me, 7 other Americans, and their Mongolian hosts standing there!

~ Erynne van Zee